Environmental Engineering Reference
In-Depth Information
• Industries involved in extraction and processing of other resources from the
ground such as nonmetallic minerals (potash, refractory and clay minerals,
phosphates).
• Industries devoted to the extraction and/or production of aggregates, sand, and
rock for the building-construction industry and for the production of cement.
• Raw energy industries such as the extraction and recovery of uranium for the
nuclear power generation industry and those industries involved in the extraction
of hydrocarbon-associated materials such as the oil sands and extraction of shale
gas and tight oil.
5.2 Stressors and Impacts
To institute geoenvironmental engineering practices to limit, mitigate, or prevent delete-
rious impacts on the geoenvironment—i.e., sustainable geoenvironmental engineering
practices—it is necessary to determine the sources and types of stressors that are likely to
act on or in the geoenvironment. In the case of the geoenvironment, stressors are agents
(forces, stresses, processes, etc.) that are responsible for actions that impact on a particular
piece of the geoenvironment. These nature or types of stressors can be physical, mechani-
cal, hydraulic, or thermal, and can include processes that are chemical, physicochemical,
and/or biogeochemical in nature. Knowledge of the sources and their related stressors
allows one to determine not only the types of impacts but also the ultimate fate of the
impacted body.
It is impossible to describe in detail the manner of operation of the different types of
industries—not only because of their diverse natures, but also because of the different
models for operational eficiency and success. The discussions presented in this and all
remaining chapters in this topic will only provide some of the main basic elements of
operation of some of the industries involved, together with some of the main sources of
stressors and their likely stressor-impacts. It is not the intent, nor is it feasible, to docu-
ment a complete list of stressors and their impacts—not only because it is not realisti-
cally feasible, but also because not all the impacts are impacts on the geoenvironment.
The later sections in this chapter will provide information on the nature of the impacts on
the geoenvironment together with suggestions as to how these impacts can be mitigated
or managed. Activities mounted in conjunction with harvesting of energy resources such
as the development of oil-producing wells, natural gas wells, extraction of bitumen from
oil sands, dams, and hydroelectric facilities, also contribute their share to the potential
impacts list. Not all the potential impacts are directly due to the discharge of wastes and
contaminants in leachate streams or wastewaters. The discussion in this chapter will focus
primarily on the mineral and nonmineral (including oil sands) mining and processing
upstream industries, and industrial activities dealing with underground in situ hydrocar-
bon extraction, i.e., industries dealing with exploitation of nonrenewable natural resources.
5.2.1 Mining-Related Activities
Activities associated with the mining, extraction, and on-site processing of extracted natu-
ral resource material (mineral and nonmineral) contribute signiicantly to the inventory of
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